Study shows immigration reporting law has high cost for Colorado

By Nancy Lofholm The Associated Press

Updated:
12/05/2012 07:02:11 PM MST

A U.S. Marshal searches Gerardo Lopez Arellano, 24, before he is escorted to a plane for deportation to Mexico at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. The U.S. government has halted flights home in 2012 for Mexicans caught entering the country illegally, a money-saving move that ends a seven-year experiment that cost taxpayers millions. (Brian Kersey/AP)

GRAND JUNCTION — A six-year-old Colorado law that requires local law enforcement to report suspected illegal immigrants to federal authorities is costing local agencies in the state more than $13 million annually , according to a study released Wednesday.

The Colorado Fiscal Institute's study tallies the cost of arresting, reporting and detaining undocumented immigrants and found that they spend an average of 22 days longer in county jails than other arrestees and that local communities are paying that cost.

The Secure Communities program runs the fingerprints of everyone who is booked into jail against FBI criminal history records and Department of Homeland Security immigration records to determine who is in the country illegally and whether they've been arrested before. (Chris Schneider / AP Photo)

The law the study focuses on — SB 90 — requires law enforcement officers to report suspected undocumented foreigners who are arrested on a criminal offense to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The law has been controversial because immigrants' rights groups believes it leads to racial profiling. Opponents also argued, when the law was passed, that it would be a financial burden for local law enforcement agencies.

SB 90 also has been called unnecessary because the 4-year-old federal Secure Communities law makes it redundant. Secure Communities requires the fingerprints of every arrested person to be submitted to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a citizenship check.

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The study released by the Campaign to Unite Colorado is the first to look at the cost of SB 90 since it was passed. The Campaign is made up of members and partners of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition. The Colorado Fiscal Institute is a new organization that analyzes fiscal issues affecting Colorado.

The study showed that Colorado law enforcement agencies spend more than $13 million annually to enforce federal laws. The City and County of Denver pays nearly $1.5 million of that.

Nahuel Tedesco poses for pictures during an interview with The Associated Press in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, June 16, 2012. Tedesco was deported from the US in May, 2010. President Barack Obama announced last week his decision to allow hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants under 30 with high school degrees and no criminal history a chance to stay and work in the country. (Eduardo Di Baia/AP)

SB 90 is supposed to apply only to those arrested for criminal offenses, but the study found that those suspected of being illegal immigrants are not being given citations and released as others would be for more minor offenses. They are being booked in local jails at higher numbers.

In Denver County, 63 percent of those booked over a two-year period with immigration detainers, were charged with misdemeanor or lower-level offenses.